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THE SECOND
MONTH IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, ONE GOD. AMEN. On
this day died the holy father Abba Paul, Archbishop of Constantinople.
This holy man was a disciple of Abba Alexander, Archbishop of
Constantinople, his predecessor, and when Abba Alexander died this father
was appointed in his stead. When
he had taken his seat on the archiepiscopal throne, he excommunicated the
Arians and expelled them from Constantinople and from the whole district.
When the Emperor Constantine died, his son Constantine reigned over
Constantinople, and his brother reigned over the city of Rome; now this
Constantine loved Arius, and he believed his polluted belief.
When the emperor heard that Saint Abba Paul had excommunicated the
Arians, and had exiled them from the city of Constantinople, he was
exceedingly sorry, and he said unto Saint Paul, “Henceforward let the
Arians alone, and excommunicate them not.”
And the archbishop did not obey his words, and therefore
Constantine was wroth with him, and he exiled him from the city of
Constantinople, just as he had exiled Abba Athanasius from the city of
Alexandria before him. And
the two archbishops Paul and Athanasius foregathered in the city of Rome
with Saint Abba Julius, the Archbishop of the city of Rome, who accorded
them a splendid and a loving reception.
And he wrote for them a letter to the Emperor Constantine, and he
said concerning them, “They are learned, and righteous and Orthodox men,
and it is meet for thee to receive them and to honor them.”
When the Archbishops Abba Paul and Abba Athanasius had arrived in
the city of Constantinople, and the emperor had read the letter of the
Archbishop of the city of Rome, he was afraid of them, and he received
them and placed them in their offices, and waited to deal with them for a
few days, and after this he exiled them.
And they returned to the city of Rome, to the Archbishop Abba
Julius, and they told him how Constantine had treated them, and how he had
exiled them a second time. And
Julius took them and brought them to the Emperor Kuenseta (Constans), the
brother of Constantine, and told him how his brother had treated them.
And Kuenseta (Constans) wrote a letter to his brother, and
commanded him to receive them, and he said unto him, “If thou dost not
receive them there will be no peace betwixt thee and me, henceforward.”
And the archbishop also wrote unto him a second letter, and
Constantine accepted the letter of his brother Kuenseta (Constans) and the
letter of the archbishop, and he set the two archbishops in their offices.
When certain men slew the Emperor Kuenseta (Constans) in the city
of Rome, his brother Constantine turned, and he exiled Saint Paul to the
country of Armenia, and shut him up in prison there for a few days.
Then the Emperor Constantine sent a letter to one of the followers
of Arius, and he said unto him, “Kill Paul in the prison house.”
And that man who was an infidel came to the holy man by night, and
strangled him, and he died in peace; and all the days of his life were
forty years. And
on this day died Saint Cyriacus the martyr and Hannah his mother; now he
was condemned to death by Elianus (the Emperor Julian according to the
Bodleian ms.) because he was a bishop.
When he confessed Christ, Elianus commanded his soldiers to cut off
his right hand, saying, “This
is thy hand wherewith thou writest, and wherewith thou dost prevent men
from worshipping idols”; and Saint Cyriacus said,
“Thou hast done well, O thou dog lacking understanding.”
When Elianus heard this he commanded his soldiers to boil some lead
and to pour it into his mouth, and he made them lay him upon a red-hot
iron bed. And they strewed
over him red-hot burning coals, and they rubbed salted fat into him, and
they beat his belly and his back with rods until his bones broke.
And the righteous man endured these tortures patiently, and he
prayed in the Hebrew tongue, saying.
[Here follows a transcript into Ethiopic letter of fifteen words in
which the saint beseeches Adonai, the God of Death, to keep death from
him.] Then Elianus commanded
them to release him, and he lay him down in the prison house.
And Elianus made them bring Hannah, the mother of Cyriacus, and he
commanded them to suspend her by her hair, and to scrape her with shards
for three hours. And he also
commanded them to burn her body with fiery torches, and whilst praying she
delivered up her soul. Then
Elianus commanded them to bring Saint Cyriacus, and to cast him into a
large pit wherein were serpent and vipers, but none of them injured him.
And when ‘Admon (Admonius), whom Hannah had saved for Christ, saw
this he cursed the king and reviled his gods; and forthwith Elianus
commanded them to cut off his head with the sword.
And the holy man stretched out his neck, saying, “O God of
Cyriacus, receive my soul”; and he finished his martyrdom.
And Elianus commanded his soldiers to cast Saint Cyriacus into a
vessel of boiling oil, and he also commanded them to drive a spear through
his breast, and thus he ended his testimony and died in peace on the day
of the Sabbath. Salutation
of Cyriacus, who informed the Empress Helena concerning the place where
the Cross was to be found; the knowledge of this place he had obtained
from his father. Salutation
to Hannah the martyr, and salutation to ‘Admon (Admonius). And
on this day are commemorated James the apostle, the son of Alphaeus, and
“Adrawos, and ‘Awaras, and ‘Aldrakwos the martyrs, and ‘Endronos
(‘Adronos?). Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen.
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